This Blog is about the Seattle Thunderbirds Hockey Team, the Western Hockey League and hockey in general. The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Seattle Thunderbirds or their management, or the Western Hockey League or their management.

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Tyler Hunnex - I started/founded/began Let's Go Birds in September of 2007 after feeling like my favorite Junior Hockey team needed more discussion and analysis. I'm statistically minded, forever frustrated by the Tbirds and my all-time favorite player was #10. I think I'm funny and my writing would probably disagree. Follow me on Twitter @TylerHunnex.

Jon Whiting - Jon joined the Let's Go Birds team in the summer of 2013. His passion for the Thunderbirds is as big as any fan I've ever met. His two kids are named after former Tbirds and his favorite all-time players were Patrick Marleau and Olaf "Ole" Kjenstad, who he swears is the best pure scoring Tbird ever.

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2.13.2012

Update

I was out of town over the weekend. The reports I got were that the Tbirds played well on Friday night and managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. Saturday night sounded like another example of how good Portland is and Seattle's inability to stay on the same playing level as the Winterhawks. Portland is a very good club and I think when they are motivated they might be the best team in the league. It seems pretty clear to me that Portland is very motivated to stick it to the Tbirds and you can see the results reflect that.

17 games to play for Seattle and things are starting to really look bleak on making the playoffs. Seattle is now tied for 7th (and 8th) with Victoria and Everett has closed to within 1 point of both teams after going 6-4 in their last 10 games.

I want to address what seems to be the most common "complaint" in the comment sections lately...

It seems to me that a handful of people really want to see Russ "step down" or give the General Manager job to someone else and focus on just being an owner of the team. Let's address this first.

I don't really see Russ ever stepping down... but let's say that he did and he hired a true G.M. to make the roster decisions, etc. Don't you think Russ would probably be involved in the decisions that were being made by this new GM? I just personally can't see a situation where Russ wouldn't be involved in some way in the decision making process as long as he was still an owner.

Second complaint - Russ doesn't care about winning. Russ and the front office have failed to produce a quality team in the past three seasons but I can assure you that it isn't because they don't care about winning. Winning would put more people in the seats and in turn would put more money in the owners pockets and allow them to spend more on the franchise. You can make an easy argument that the last three years have not worked out well but you can't make a very easy argument that they aren't trying.

Tbirds are back in action tomorrow night against Kelowna and each one of these games gets more critical as the margin of error shrinks.

Seattle has enough "checking role" players. We need two quality centers to win faceoffs and dish the puck with speed. Not to mentioned better D. No doubt Hauf and Theodore wil be better at 17 & 18 but this team needs quality defensive help ASAP.

Don't forget also that before the last 3 year dive this organization has only won 3 playoff series in the last 9 years with a combined playoff record of 21-26. It took 8 years to fire the last coach and make a few changes in the scouting department. Don't be so sure the new players and imports will make a positive impact on wins and losses. The same people are picking the players that have bee picking them the last decade....Beware

I agree Tyler that I beleive that Russ wants to win, but as the face of the franchise from a interview stand point there seems to be no passion from the guy as far as this team. Case in point in interviews that Tom does with him, when Russ introduced Steve at the press confrence when he was hired. I want to have some passion from the guy. If he does not have the passion then I think that is a issue, IMO.I just don't see the light at the end of the tunnel for this team, I really don't, I think they are in a dead spin with no improvement in site or evidence of it.

There is no question that Russ wants to win. Does he have the resources to compete though? I would like for him to step aside and hire a GM with a successful track record, but can he afford it? I don't know the answer to that question. If he is just getting by financially, this team may never compete for anything. This could be a choice between having a team here in its current state, or not having a team at all. Too many unknown variables, but if he has any money to invest he should at a minimum, hire a head scout with a successful record of identifying young talent to play at this level. Russ makes some good and some bad trades for players already in the WHL. It is the Bantam draft failures that are giving this team zero chance to compete.

I am a Winterhawk fan, and the team was HORRIBLE for 3 years, until they cleaned house, and developed and invested in scouting. It starts at the bantum level, which the Hawks have made good smart decisions over the last 4 years. Brad Ross, Ty Rattie, Jow Morrow, Derek Pouliout, Wotherspoon, Johansen, Nimo, Bartschi, and others were drafted by the Hawks. Does anybody remember how bad the Winterhawks were BEFORE the new regime?

3 bad years also puts you first in line in the draft for 3 years. Witness the Pittsburgh Penguins. Would they have won the stanley cup if they hadn't picked 1st in 2 consecutive years? It is very hard to stay up at the top of standings all the time.

Here's the problem, Russ is the owner and GM. As Tyler pointed out will not admit that he is part of the problem. The Thunderbirds are in a unique situation where the walk up sales will not decrease even if a few, or hundreds of season tickets holders depart (and I don't even see that happening.) This will just leave the continued excuses of rebuilding to be given by this organization while the same rebuilding is continued. Same losing seasons and same excuses will be accepted. This team and their fans will continue to suffer under par play and we will accept it. We are hockey fans after all. Besides, the next close alternative, Everett, is worse than us.

I'm curious where everyone is reading or hearing Russ say he is rebuilding? A lot of teams make moves that don't work out. How could he possibly know that some players wouldn't perform as expected? He couldn't forsee the injuries to some of our key draft picks that either brought an end to their careers or delayed them by a year. I understand the frustration, but try and keep things in perspective. Plus it's his toy, I guess he can play with it how he chooses. If you don't like it you don't go. It's pretty simple. I wouldn't miss going to see the future NHL'ers play...even if they aren't on our team. But IMO some of them are! If you are going just to see a win, sorry.

Where are we seeing the comments about rebuilding by Russ? In interviews on the web and radio. Also, in a letter to season ticket holders a couple years back.

It is his "toy" as you put it. Have you looked at attendance lately? Lots of fans have stopped attending. How many sellouts have we had this year? Two at the most, if that. Have you noticed for the games that do sell more than 2/3 that suddenly there are tons of tickets available at the last minute not normally available? These are tickets purposely blocked out for most of the games by the team to make it look like they have sold more tickets in advance (also ready season ticket holders) than they actually have. They then release these tickets as necessary for heavier attended games.

The truth of the matter is this team has been rebuilding for about a decade. Since moving to Kent they have been horrible. Excuses are easy, actions are hard. Look around the arena and the fans are speaking volumes by not attending as many games.

People can complain all they want though. And I'm sure the team "wants" to win, but I don't think they know how to put a winning team together. Many of us "want" to do many things in life but lack the talent, skills, etc to make those things happen. I don't care if people complain or not, it is what it is.

I've been watching the comments for weeks and haven't said anything. But now I feel compelled to speak up. Here's what I think: these kids are 16-20 years old. I FIRMLY believe that in order to motivate kids this age, you have to use POSITIVE reinforcement to get response. Have any of you yelled and yelled and yelled at a teenager before? What happens? They STOP LISTENING. Until we get a coaching staff that pushes these kids to their potentional in a positive way, we will continue to see 20 individual players on the ice night after night after night, rather than a truly cohesive team.

If I have someone constantly treating me negatively, no matter what I do or how well I do it, why should I bother trying anymore? It's not worth it if I have no positive reinforcement (or constructive criticism to learn from).

So, 1) Russ needs to STOP being a backseat coach and let the coaches do their jobs, 2) we need to have coaches that TRULY know how to coach and DEVELOP kids this age - not just use punitive coaching techniques and 3) we need to use our scouting options better.

My 2 cents for whatever it's worth, after watching the last three years of heartbreaking results. I still love the game and want to support these young guys, but sometimes I wonder if I'll invest more of my hardearned cash in season tickets as long as we still have these issues.

Where is Russ? Can't he come out of the closet and make a statement?He could quiet these comments easily by letting the fans know that he is letting the coaching staff coach and scouting organization find players. If of course that is the actual situation.

The Thunderbirds front office definitely reads the comments. Don't kid yourself to think they don't. Do they sit on here all day waiting to read the latest? I really doubt it. But they definitely do read the stuff about them every now and then you can be sure on that.